1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobility information processing apparatus, a mobility information processing method, and a driving support system having a mobility information processing function.
2. Description of Related Art
As a vehicle including plural driving modes, a hybrid vehicle using an engine and motor together as a drive source is known. The hybrid vehicle includes a mode (HV mode) in which the engine and the motor are simultaneously used and a mode (EV mode) in which the vehicle travels using only the motor with the engine stopped as the plural driving modes. A mobility information processing apparatus including a navigation system mounted on the hybrid vehicle calculates a travel route from a current location to a destination and selects a driving mode to be applied to each partitioned section in the travel route, on the basis of map information, road traffic information, or the like. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-12605 describes an example of a controller of a vehicle having such a mobility information processing function.
The controller of a vehicle described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-12605 is provided to a vehicle having plural driving modes and includes means for detecting travel information of the vehicle influenced by preference of a driver, storage means for storing the travel information for each category classified on the basis of at least road information, and means for updating and storing the detected travel information in the storage means. The controller further includes means for searching for a travel route to a destination, means for specifying road information in the searched travel route, means for specifying a category corresponding to the searched travel route on the basis of the specified road information, and means for reading travel information in the specified category from the storage means. The controller further includes prediction means for predicting an energy balance in the searched travel route on the basis of the read travel information, setting means for setting a driving mode in the searched travel route on the basis of the predicted energy balance, and means for controlling the vehicle so as to travel in the set travel mode.
In order to set the driving mode for the travel route like the controller of the vehicle described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-12605, it is necessary to manage an energy balance, for example, a travel load, for each section of all the sections of the travel route. However, the number of sections included in the travel route greatly varies depending on the distance to a destination, road environments in the travel route, compactness of the partitioned sections, and the like. Accordingly, when the number of sections included in the travel route is greater than the number of sections that can be processed by the controller, it is difficult to allocate appropriate driving modes to all the sections of the travel route.
This problem is mainly common to apparatuses or methods of allocating driving modes for a moving object including plural driving modes having different energy balances.